What can’t Claire Foy do? She’s the Queen of England (on Netflix’s “The Crown”), Mrs. Neil Armstrong (in “First Man”) and for her next trick, she has slipped into the cyber-goth trappings and jet-black bowl cut of the girl with the dragon tattoo, Lisbeth Salander, in “The Girl in the Spider’s Web: A New Dragon Tattoo Story.”

Her Lisbeth doesn’t have the fierce fragility of Rooney Mara in David Fincher’s “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” or the Nordic flintiness of Noomi Rapace, who played the character in the Swedish film trilogy. Foy’s Lisbeth is passionate and compassionate, despite her severe styling and frosty demeanor. Early on, her famed dragon tattoo is sliced open in an attack, and for the rest of the film, despite superglue and staples, it seeps blood. It’s the perfect encapsulation of this Lisbeth Salander, a bleeding heart whose wounds have never closed.

“The Girl in the Spider’s Web” is the fourth book in the series of Swedish crime novels created by Stieg Larsson and the first not written by Larsson, who died in 2004. David Lagercrantz wrote the new installment, which has been adapted by director and co-writer Fede Alvarez, Steven Knight and Jay Basu. Alvarez made a splash a couple of years ago with his high-concept horror flick “Don’t Breathe,” wherein a blind man stalks a trio of teens who have broken into his house.

The plot is the kind of story that bedevils the “Bond” franchise, the “Mission: Impossible” films and most superhero movies. Lisbeth has to keep a (insert world-ending device here) out of the hands of (insert nefarious criminal organization here). It’s a tale as old as cinematic time, edged up with facial piercings, unfortunate bangs and light lesbian action.

The twist is that the nefarious criminal organization has a deeply personal connection to Lisbeth’s past, and her quest rips open old emotional wounds. Lisbeth’s status as a survivor of sexual assault has always been a huge part of her story, and “Spider’s Web” asserts that rape is what makes women bitter and violent. The film wants to deal with old trauma, but the way it’s deployed here is reductive, particularly with regard to Lisbeth and her sister, Camilla (Sylvia Hoeks), who is only defined by her past pain.

The film has lots of shortcomings, including an overly complicated and uninteresting plot, baffling fight scenes shot from completely insane angles and the complete waste of actors Vicky Krieps and Claes Bang. Foy, however, puts in the work. She is both meticulous and earnest as Lisbeth, giving the character a big, beating heart underneath her black hood and creative eye makeup.